that means we need to stop digging by electing mitt romney the next president of the united states. >> reporter: but the day's events quickly were overshadowed by a 2007 speech of then presidential candidate and senator obama veering off his prepared script before a predominantly black audience he seemed to imply the federal government was withholding recovery money to new orleans after hurricane katrina based on race. after september 11th and hurricane andrew in 1992 in florida, the government response was -- >> we're not going to wait for you to scratch it together because you're part of the american family. >> reporter: but after katrina, he said it was different. >> what's happening down in new orleans? where is your dollar? tells me that somehow the people down in new orleans, they don't care about as much. >> reporter: now in this speech we saw last night, the president said he didn't think the initial response to hurricane katrina was motivated by race. he said that incompetence was color blind. this speech was covered in 2007. it was aired last night on the conservative media,